Grades: Spurs vs. Heat - Apr. 21, 2021

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

This was a terribly, terribly, coached game. When Miami went to the zone, Pop really did nothing about it. Against NBA teams a zone works for a few minutes as a surprise shift, the other team makes a couple of adjustments, and within 5 or 6 minutes the zone begins to lose its effectiveness. The Spurs, on the other hand, did nothing to counter the zone, and completely fell apart. The coaching gap between Eric Spoelstra and Pop was obvious last night. Of course, Pop could have made anyone look like a genius last night. Sometimes I wonder if he's mentally just checked out of some games.

And continuing to rely on Mills when he's completely ineffective baffles me as well. Patty does nothing for the team other than shoot and bring semi-effective defensive energy, even when he's not slumping, and so if it's obvious he's moving slowly and can't hit his shots, he needs a quick hook. Same for Gay, although he has some intangibles out there that Mills does not. But when you have Luka and Devin, very capable young players, sitting on the bench, why not play that card when it's obvious your vets aren't bringing anything?

Is there a grade lower than F for Pop? It was painful to watch. The Spurs aren't as bad as they look some nights, but the guy steering the ship is asleep at the wheel it appears.

[Dejounte]

I perfectly understand contract players want to play, but ain't no way Rudy or Patty are losing money by being played 5 less mpg (that they're usually ting the bed with) by giving some space to the next generation. It's just Pop and his ways.

What exactly would Luka & Devin do with five minutes of playing time? Come now...

Regarding "Pop and his ways", what are his ways? Let's dig deeper into that...

Even a person who does the most nonsensical things, such as storming the capitol, has a root cause behind their way of thinking.

Without context, without more information, without words straight from the horse's mouth (in some cases, we've heard the words), there is a gap of information that is missing.

And with that gap, fans fill it with assumptions, sometimes with wild thoughts depending on how emotionally invested they are in the team.

[Mugen]

This was a terribly, terribly, coached game. When Miami went to the zone, Pop really did nothing about it. Against NBA teams a zone works for a few minutes as a surprise shift, the other team makes a couple of adjustments, and within 5 or 6 minutes the zone begins to lose its effectiveness. The Spurs, on the other hand, did nothing to counter the zone, and completely fell apart. The coaching gap between Eric Spoelstra and Pop was obvious last night. Of course, Pop could have made anyone look like a genius last night. Sometimes I wonder if he's mentally just checked out of some games.

And continuing to rely on Mills when he's completely ineffective baffles me as well. Patty does nothing for the team other than shoot and bring semi-effective defensive energy, even when he's not slumping, and so if it's obvious he's moving slowly and can't hit his shots, he needs a quick hook. Same for Gay, although he has some intangibles out there that Mills does not. But when you have Luka and Devin, very capable young players, sitting on the bench, why not play that card when it's obvious your vets aren't bringing anything?

Is there a grade lower than F for Pop? It was painful to watch. The Spurs aren't as bad as they look some nights, but the guy steering the ship is asleep at the wheel it appears.

Chopper

[John B]

The earlier Spurs fans accept that we are on a "soft tank," the easier to accept these losses

[Sugus]

Sugus , DJ was due for a bad game.

Bahaha, we're crossing replies in two different threads speaking on the same subject.

His shooting wasn't "outlier-ly" good when he's done it for 7+ consecutive games. This is an example of downplaying. But like with White, Lonnie, we should extend the same patience when judging his game. White looks solid now but has sucked for majority of the season. It's like we're doing a 20-80 with DJ, using the 20 as a indictment of who he is as a player and using last night to point fingers at his flaws is an example of that. All the while we're doing the reverse with White, using the 20 to say "look how good he looks when he's the point guard!"

Disagree on his shooting. I actually went and looked: he didn't shoot as well as I'd imagined (only 3-of-8 3pt made), yet that 8 3PA was actually a season-high of attempts for him. The last 5 games, he shot 1-2, 1-1, 2-4, 2-5, 2-5. So ehh, I don't think I'm downplaying that shooting outing; if anything, it weakens my previous argument of how he'd be better playing SG. His form on 3s is good, but only on C&S; he has little to no pull-up ability, no step-back moves, no side-step moves, and most importantly, no understanding of the modern game to realize that his pull-up shots would be ridiculously better for the team if he did them 5 ft back from where he shoots them. Having a PG that's so limited in outside shootings is practically and literally a death sentence in the NBA - which playoff defense is going over on any screens set for Dejounte in a series? No smart scouting ones, I can tell you that, and DJ can't (won't?) make them pay. And again, that's not something you develop out of the blue after your 5th NBA season, unless you're a Jaylen Brown level talent... You're either born into the side-step 3, or you ain't ( modern NBA ).

As for the rest, I don't disagree entirely, and I'm perfectly fine with giving DJ one more year, I guess. At the very least, it'd be good to see him actually get a chance to be the consistent leader/go-to guy with DeRozan gone (praydog.jpg), and see if he can evolve to rise to that challenge (the Atlanta game winner comes to mind here, could he be that player night in, night out?). But again, I think we fundamentally disagree on his perceived ceiling; I don't expect him to have much more room to grow than what he did already. His counting stats can, should, and will get better, but there's certain aspects of the game, especially pertaining IQ and distance shooting, that are just impossible to develop past a certain age in an NBA-hypercompe ive context.

In my mind, the next Spurs PG that could have the chance to lift a LOB has not been drafted yet... So why not sell high on your best performing young player, get a couple late lotto picks (an incredible ROI for a 29th pick, would that be, btw), and roll the dice again?

E: I'm stepping out for a couple hours, so I can reply to you in full later, this crossing of quotes is bad for my mind

[The Truth #6]

There were two sparks to this season that could have possibly turned into fires...

Vassell and Luka


pop is doing all he can to douse the out of those sparks...

the rest of the season has just been a predictable warm state of mediocrity.

That’s the truth. There definitely was optimism from the bubble, but that burst in preseason, and since then it’s just been a bipolar roller coaster ride.

Insane they didn’t try to build off of Luka’s brief hot streak, his defense was completely shutting everyone down.

[NK123]

Because the priority of the head coach is not to just win basketball games, it's to win basketball games HIS WAY playing the players THA HE PREFERS TO PLAY

It doesn't matter how bad Rudy and Patty play...its itched in stone they are playing...

It doesn't matter how good Luka and now Devin play...its itched in stone they are not playing...

You said everything...

[Spurs Homer]

What exactly would Luka & Devin do with five minutes of playing time? Come now...

Regarding "Pop and his ways", what are his ways? Let's dig deeper into that...

Even a person who does the most nonsensical things, such as storming the capitol, has a root cause behind their way of thinking.

Without context, without more information, without words straight from the horse's mouth (in some cases, we've heard the words), there is a gap of information that is missing.

And with that gap, fans fill it with assumptions, sometimes with wild thoughts depending on how emotionally invested they are in the team.

it isn’t rocket science

look at goofy ass ewwwbanks

give him enough minutes and what does he do?

he does what he has done all his life- IMPROVE.

And when you do what R.C. Buford does as well as anyone in the NBA - FIND HIDDEN GEMS

Then -as a coach- all you have to do is play the out of them until they IMPROVE

you can give ty mills and -never won a le GAY - thousands of minutes and they will do what they have always done, which for mills is a decent low minutes off the bench spark once in a blue moon
and gay = a chucker who can occassionally look like a stud - while most nights just a “collect a paycheck” journeyman

or you can give the most talented prospects some real run


not ing rocket science

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

The isn’t rocket science, Rudy and Patty are gassed and Pop doesn’t trust the young guys enough. It’s frustrating as to see Pop do the same stuff over and over expecting a different result but the last few seasons this has been him.


SMH